Search the Community

Nope So my marinade was soy sauce, chinkiang vinegar, and potato starch, with a bit of cooking oil, all mixed up at once, as I've always done and always see recipes for. I suppose I could consciously drain it next time. As for coating in starch, do you mean before it hits the wok, or as part of the marinade as I did?

I'd imagine it was just too wet. When a lot of liquid (trapped underneath the chicken) is rapidly heated, the steam produced can be very powerful. Next time, I'd try draining the marinade really well, then maybe a light coating of starch (rice flour, wondra, etc.) to absorb the excess liquid. I've watched a lot of cooking over those ridiculously hot woks in Thailand - the kind where there's a fan underneath the charcoal pot, and it looks like a flame thrower is underneath the wok. Most things that go in there seem pretty dry - I can't remember anything dripping wet, until the sauce goes in, but by that time, the wok is cooled by all the other ingredients already in it.

I've been using a wok for all my adult life and am pretty good at it, I'm just not used to it at such intense levels of heat.

Just a word about cooking with a Wok. The principle is to be able to use just enough heating fuel to quickly cook the meal. That was why the Wok was invented. There wasn't much fuel and it was expensive so the cook had everything laid ot in advance in order of the time it took to cook. Once the Wok was heated, peanut oil would be swirled around the side and possibly some sesame oil to help flavor it. Then in would go the items like Green Peppers, Onions, carrots, meat and later celery, bok choy, bean sprouts, show peas and whateve only needed to get hot with the few minutes of heating fuel you had. The Wok is a very efficient utensil. It doesn't require much fuel. If you were using a 12 inch Wok, I'd say 10 to 15 glowing red briquettes would more than be enough to prepare your meal. You may even get by with eight briquettes. I learned to cook in a Wok years ago. Today I own about four of them. It started in school days when my Grandmother bought one somewhere and thought she would learn to cook Chinese. She was clueless and successless as well. Next tme I was by there she had it filled with dirt on the patio and flowers growing in it. So at the end of the season I asked her for it and cleaned it up and learned to use it. It is a whole different way to go about cooking let me assure you.

So the other day I bought one of those Thai grills/charcoal wok stoves, for getting serious damn heat outdoors when stir frying. Loaded it up with hot charcoal tonight and sure enough it got HOT. So hot that when I added my marinaded chicken cubes, a portion of chicken literally exploded out of the wok and headed straight for me, burning my arm in the process. What didn't hit my arm travelled a good 5 feet or so. I guess maybe the chicken was too wet? Is one not supposed to marinade meat when dealing with such high temperatures? I imagine it still wasn't as hot as a commercial wok range, but then also I'm using a 14" wok, as opposed to a much larger one typical for such a high-heat application. Basically, I got this grill in part to get searing heat and super wok hei, which I achieved...so how do I prevent further injury?

How about some simple stir-fries? (You don't need a wok) Slice up the chicken breast(s), against the grain of course. Something simple then might be: hot oil in frying pan, chopped smashed garlic, fresh ginger sliced or julienned or chopped, chicken pieces, salt, vegetable of your choice suitable for a stir-fry (try celery, green or red bell-type peppers or poblano type etc,** mushrooms - even the standard button mushrooms work, semi-leafy vegetables with slightly harder stems (think kai lan), or even onions chopped into large pieces) cooking the veggies till they are still crunchy (that includes the mushrooms and onions) (If your family does not like crunchy vegetables in a cooked dish then leave out the vegetables altogether) Add some cut-up hot chillies in if you like. A splash of soy sauce if desired. Or try fistfuls of trimmed, washed basil (yes, basil) in large-ish pieces (tender stems included if they are tender) tossed in right before the end...Thai basil would be best for this but the standard Italian/Western type works fine too. Some cooking wine or cooking sake could also be added (except with the basil - I'd leave it out in that case; ditto soy sauce, that would clash w/ the Italian basil IMO) and the chicken slices could be pre-marinated before it hits the frying pan. Try chicken stir-fried w/ cucumbers and a fresh chilli – Hakka style. Here's a recipe by the author of "The Hakka Cookbook" using specifically skinless boneless chicken breasts. (One needs to "join" the site to see the video but the recipe and instructions are visible (click on the button for the details - look on the webpage) without "joining") How about "poaching" or steeping the chicken breast(s) in gingered hot water? This is similar to how Hainanese chicken or "white cut chicken" is done, except that just the breasts instead of the whole chicken is "steeped/poached". Smash some ginger, add to a pot of water (enough to cover the breasts plus maybe an inch more), bring to a boil, add the breasts in, return to a simmer/boil and shut off the heat; let the chicken sit in the hot water (salted if desired) till "just" cooked (say, around 15-20 minutes) (cut to test or use a meat thermometer), retrieve from the pot, plunge into cold water, retrieve, slice up (against the grain) and eat with something like ginger-scallion sauce with or without added chopped garlic as well, or with a chilli sauce in the SE Asian style. These are just a few simple suggestions; the variations and other dishes are many, including ones that are more involved. Do you have access to tamarind, galangal, lemongrass, E/SE Asian-style bean paste(s) or SE Asian-style shrimp paste(s)? If so the possibilities expand, especially with curries. ** ETA: Especially with peppers, I would tend to toss in fermented black beans into the stir-fry - but you may not have this.

Rice cooker here as well. I still have one but haven't used it in so long now that I should just throw it or give it away. I 'think' it probably still works. But, like you, Anna, my electric grill/press, has been put away for ages too. My electric wok has been out in its place for a while now. I really need to get my island expanded/reconfigured - and extra counter space added along the wall. I also have a plan for a way to line up all my favorite electric appliances on the new counter and build a shelf over top (well above the tallest appliance) with some kind of door(s) to hide them all along that extra wall where the new counter will be (like one ~12" long giant appliance 'garage' with electrical outlets near each one so I don't have to actually move the appliances to use them). Of course, even with those changes, due primarily to size constraints, the new freeze-drier and my large chamber vac machine will stay on utility carts. My Vita-mix is a real nuisance to use right now - so I don't for the most part. It is on the counter in full sight but is too tall to use in its place and I have to remove the jar part to get it out far enough to use.

Today's thrift-store haul. The small wok I visualize as a serving dish not a cooking vessel.

I've been taking off the disc diffuser on my burner for the last year since with the disc most of the heat goes to the sides. But I always stir-fry in my Lodge cast iron wok. There is practically no point in stir-frying indoors with a regular wok, you might as well use a regular skillet.

Same impression here, the idea is good but the average Gas Stove lacks of BTU, the flame in the video looks anemic better to buy a proper outdoor wok burner

I find that life gets much easier when I have my staples around. To make it possible, I need to have always some stock around. At the moment I have beef and chicken stock in the fridge. I also have always some tomato sauce and bolognese ragu' in the freezer. Also home made buns and often I have a crepes in the fridge. My children like soups, especially clear soups and if I have a good beef stock ready, it takes only minutes to put together (broken angel hair pasta, cooked 2 minutes in water, or rice noodles). Or I often make minestrone (without pasta or rice, that I add to it only to the quantity we are eating, don't like overcooked pasta or rice). My children don't like veloute soups and it's a pity. I try to cook a roast (or a stew) that is served as it is for one or two meals at most and then becomes croquettes. I often make more risotto than we would eat, so I add one egg and with the ice cream scoop I make rice cakes pan fry and those reheat quite well. Often I buy pork loin (we don't eat a lot of chicken) and do breaded cutlets in the morning and I keep in the fridge to cook as needed. Always have some vegetables washed and ready to cook. They usually takes minutes with the wok or pressure cooker. This thinking is useful also for me to recap my strategies. Soups ready with just pasta/rice to add Roast or stew ready Meat/vegetable croquettes, rice cakes ready in the fridge just to saute' Boiled eggs in the fridge Vegetables: crudites ready to eat or vegetables already washed and cut. Pickled vegetable with rice and sugar, Asian style My home make buns for hot dog for when I'm stressed. Or whole foods naans for a cheat quick pizza.

Not blanched, just stir fried in the wok with oil, chili peppers and garlic. Stir fry on high until the wilt slightly, add a little bit of water, lower and steam cover for a couple of minutes. I tried with outer greener leaves (the one people usually discard), inner paler and I like much better the outer leaves because they are more flavorful. Definitely one of my best recent discoveries. I keep the hearts for shaving in salads or saute' whole.

Andie, I do know of one very specialized use for the electric wok: keeping boiled sugar warm so that you can use a pot of it in liquid form. -Like the caramel sugar needed for a croquembouche, gateau st honore, or the sugar for making a big batch of spun sugar, or maybe caramel sugar nut spikes. I actually picked one of these up cheap at a thrift shop when I was in culinary school just for sugar work. It works well and the shape is economical in that as you use the sugar up, the pool becomes smaller and less winds up wasted on the sides. That said, you need to make sugar showpieces, croquembouche, nut spikes, or spun sugar every once in a while to justify the owning the wok.

Earlier this morning I came across another unwanted, unworkable appliance. An electric wok, made by West Bend which NEVER got hot enough for stir-fry or any other suggested use. I can't recall if I bought it or it was a gift. Useless.

Anna - Perhaps we need another thread about appliances we bought because we thought we could not live without them for whatever reason but actually never used them or used them minimally. My list there would look a lot like Lindag's - and include, in particular, a SodaStream and Keurig bought for a ONE night visit by my daughter (she never used them at all. I don't drink pop or even soda water. I tried the Keurig a couple of times and now need to think of someone to give it to) - and then there was a breadmaker someone gave me - never used - bread was always the ONE thing that I think should always be made by hand - literally (with the exception of the cinnamon rolls I make in the Thermomix) - it was given away pronto. (PS .. Anna - you posted about your Keurig while I was still writing this .. edited to say - PM me your address and when I get home I will be thrilled to mail you mine!) However, I did use the rice cooker for years and loved it - and it still works, I think .. I am just not sure where it is any more and I am not sure why I don't use it any more either - other than 'out of sight, out of mind' perhaps, or maybe that I am not cooking for a family either any more. But, the Breville grill/press machine IS currently used extensively for weeks at a time I find but due to size and space constraints, it trades places with the electric wok according to my whims. While it is in storage, I use my Staub grillpan on the stove. If I had a Jenn-air grill in NS (as I do in NC), I may never have even bought or used either the Breville or the grillpan - but I love them all. I also have had several food processors. The first was a Cuisinart DLC-7 Pro given to me by my brother in the early 1980s I think - it was in every day use for at least 25 years, and the motor still works and I still have it but the bowl cracked and needs to be replaced so I stupidly bought a newer version which was garbage and was used about 3 or 4 times - I won't bother to move it up north - it will be junked or given away because I have now gone without a food processor for several years and found I really don't need it any more. Oh and then there is the espresso machine I used to use every day and now it too is stored away - for special occasions that rarely seem to arise. Times change, needs and interests change. I don't regret most of my 'gadget' purchases over the years. Had fun with (most of) them for a while. What is still out on my counter and still very much in use? My Thermomix. What is out on my counter or within easy reach and is used very rarely? My Vitamix, my two Kitchen Aid stand mixers (one is on the floor because I can't figure out where to store it), and a couple of crockpots (heaven knows why I don't use them - just never occurs to me and they are in plain sight). What is in easy reach in a drawer and still gets used a fair bit? My old hand mixer. What now sees occasional use, is still loved, and has been used extensively in the past, but, is now in the closet? My Excalibur dehydrator - which may find itself rather lonely when I get the new FD set up. It still works and will not be given away in my lifetime though. The thing is .. I don't NEED any of the electrical kitchen gadgets I have (they are really mere 'toys' for grownups). I used to make everything by hand/the old fashioned way - and still can/do if I am too lazy to haul the modern, heavy 'time and step saving' equipment out of its hiding place, set it up, plug it in, remember how to use it, and wash it all afterward.

I rarely use nonstick, so don't know much about what's available. I OCCASIONALLY use a NS pan for eggs, but more often than not use my carbon steel wok. My personal pots and pans are: 14" CS wok, 12" Lodge pan that I've smoothed down and seasoned with much love and care, and a 5ish quart Lodge enameled Dutch oven (or "pot" as I call it). However - nonstick is CRUCIAL for one absolutely essential item in my repertoire: Iraqi and Iranian style rice, with hakkaka/tadig, the rice crust that forms at the bottom of the pot. Anything not nonstick is a recipe for disaster, and to prevent the rice from scorching and to keep it cooking evenly, a thick pot is desired, at least at the bottom. The last few years I've been cooking at my parents' house using their pots (some ancient unlabeled 1980s stuff, very heavy and thick), or in previous, rental kitchens on sub-optimal cooking vessels. Now that I have my own condo, I'm looking for 2 rice-worthy pots, one large enough to cook, say 2 cups of rice (let's say 2-3 quarts), and the other for more (5-ish quarts). I guess the small one would be some kind of saucepan, and the other vaguely dutch oven-y in shape, or resembling a scaled down stock pot. Calphalon seems make a few items that sound about right, but I don't know how thick-walled their stuff is. What other makers are out there?

Ok, but the dish calls for crispy thin chicken with a lightly breaded crust with breading bits. Not going to get those results in a pan. Maybe a super hot wok with oil, but thats pretty much the same thing as deep frying.

The one I got is labeled as a wok but I won't ever use it as a wok because it is non stick and should not be used over high heat like a wok. I will use it as a lidded skillet instead, mostly for braising.

Today we found ourself in Toronto - and realized we were close to Mengrai Thai. We both had a lunch combination. Pumpkin soup for me. Tom yum for Anna #56 for me (red thai curry with pineapple and lychee) Garlic shrimp with pineapple for Anna Mango ice cream Lychee ice cream After lunch - we hit Chinatown - in search of a nice big wok shovel to use in the Big Green Egg - tired of burning my arms.

Yes, definitely don't wait till the wok cools. Clean it immediately after you empty it, as Patrick recommends.. I use my wok two or three meals a day, when I'm home. Always clean immediately. I've had it for years now and nothing ever sticks.

Thanks for the advice. I'll try that as I've been waiting until the wok cools and using a soft cloth.

I think that as the seasoning builds, your wok will get more and more nonstick. I recommend cleaning it while it's still hot, with just hot water and a paper towel. Directly after you dump the final contents on to a plate. If you use a bamboo wok brush, be gentle - it can remove quite a bit of seasoning.

I'm a complete novice at wok cooking only having started trying to cook Chinese dishes recently, but for what they're worth here are my observations. I'm stuck with a induction hob. I bought a 'flat' bottomed carbon steel wok. I did quite a bit of on line research before seasoning. Can't say that I was wildly successful in that effort, but the wok seems to be coming around as I use it. Its now at a point where almost nothing sticks to it and I can easily clean it with warm water & a soft cloth. I think one of my main problems is that my induction hob is not linear in its heating. The difference between a '7' setting & an '8' setting is not proportional. Don't know if this is a common problem or not. The 8 is too hot & many times the 7 too low. What I have learned though experience is that using the wok on my largest burner works better than using it on the burner that seems to fit it best. Go figure? In any case I'm beginning to be happy with the results and I'm beginning to get a good sense of how much I can cook at a time. I'm still mystified as to how people get what look to be extremely fast cooking without burning or sticking. My wok will stick or form a coating if I try to use too much heat. Any advice anyone would care to give me would be greatly appreciated.

I've just settled on and will soon be moving into a condo with a gas stove, with a microwave mounted recirculating fan above it. As I understand it, unvented gas stoves can emit CO into the air. Is there ANY recirculating system that can filter/trap CO? I'm not sure I'll be able to install a vented system....and apart from general usage CO emission, I'm also interested in stovetop wok smoking, as I don't think I'll be bringing my WSM. That must also produce CO, so does everybody who does the stovetop wok smoke have a vented hood or a kitchen with a window (mine is not by a window)?

A month ago I tried wokking on the BBQ for that "Wok Hei" thing (as per "the food lab"/Kenji Lopez suggestion). It was basically a disaster, but I found two useful facts based on measurements I made with my laser/infrared thermometer: 1. The BBQ heats up to considerably higher temperatures than the hob. 2. However, with the miniature BBQ I used, the wok itself heated up considerably more on my hob than it did on the BBQ. Which is to say, temperature alone doesn't do it. From whatever heat source you use, you need sufficient total heat output to quickly get the wok back up to cooking temperatures. Suddenly the bicycle-pump pressured jet burners used in Asia are starting to make a LOT more sense. LiuZhou: That's funny, from all the Chinese I've seen when I lived in Asia, most of them would get a nice car before they'd get a house looking good not only on the inside, but the outside as well (i.e. not box-shaped, if you see what I mean). I may be biased though as I never lived in China.